AVAC in the News (2024)

Opinion: The world has a new HIV prevention drug. Let’s use it
There is hope for a new 5 by 3 global target of getting 5 million people on long-acting PrEP to prevent HIV by 2030.
December 19, 2024 — Devex

2024 Breakthrough of the Year: The Long Shot
“You don’t see data like this every day,” says Mitchell Warren, who heads AVAC, a nonprofit that began as the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition and has increasingly made PrEP its main focus.
December 12, 2024 — Science

Data Rules: How Numbers Turned Our HIV Plans
“We’re seeing treatment scale-up go quite quickly, [but] we’re not seeing the level of new infections go down as quickly — and that’s a cause for great concern,” Mitchell Warren, head of the international HIV advocacy organisation AVAC, told Bhekisisa earlier this month.
December 10, 2024 — Bhekisisa

Long-Acting HIV Medicines and the Pandemic Inequality Cycle — Rethinking Access
Coverage is a key component of impact, and it is vital that governments and donors act together to purchase these products at scale. If the volumes purchased are small, then prices will stay high, impact will remain low, and a sustainable, affordable market for multiple manufacturers will not come to fruition. Coordinated work by UNAIDS; the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria; PEPFAR; Unitaid; the WHO; and AVAC is building momentum, but more is needed.
December 9, 2024 — The New England Journal of Medicine

How SA’s HIV Fight Has Changed: New Infections Drop From 1 463 a Day to 370
But HIV “is still an issue” as the number of new infections isn’t coming down fast enough to end AIDS as a public health threat – and that’s “a cause for great concern”, HIV activist Mitchell Warren from AVAC says.
December 2, 2024 — News24

With Threats on The Horizon, World AIDS Day Is Still a Call to Action
World AIDS Day arrives every year on December 1 and yet it remains one of the more confusing—and I’ll add, often dreaded—markers in the AIDS community. Advocates are often forced to choose between mourning the loss of loved ones or using the globally recognized day to highlight the persisting struggles holding us back from seeing an AIDS-free generation. As we face an incoming administration that campaigned on promises to “reshape” our healthcare with guidance from one of the loudest leaders in the anti-science and denialist movement, our impulse to resist has never been more clear or urgent.
December 1, 2024 — Vogue

[PODCAST] Will Trump Cut Funds for SA’s HIV Programmes?
In this podcast, Mia Malan asks Mitchell Warren, who heads up the New York-based advocacy organisation, Avac, what lies ahead for South Africa’s US-funded HIV programmes after Trump takes over.
November 28, 2024 — Healio

Does the World Still Need an HIV Vaccine? Experts Say Yes?
Mitchell Warren, executive director of the nonprofit AVAC, which focuses on HIV prevention, compared the current situation with the aftermath of the Thai vaccine trial. “At the time, people said if we got to 50% [efficacy for a vaccine], that was the new bar,” Mitchell said at HIVR4P. “I personally think that was true then. It is no longer true.”
November 27, 2024 — Healio

Can SA Afford To Not Have Climate-Friendly ARVs?
And, says Mitchell Warren, who heads up the New York-based HIV advocacy organisation Avac, while it is “terrific” to see the work that looks at the impact of HIV drugs on the environment, “from an HIV prevention and treatment perspective, the first priority needs to be to develop products that will work to ensure long, healthy lives of people living with HIV”.
November 20, 2024 — Bhekisisa

How Gilead Is Driving Global Health Equity And Innovation
According to Mitchell Warren, Executive Director of AVAC, an international non-profit organization working to accelerate effective HIV prevention options in high-burden countries and communities, “the recent results of injectable lenacapavir for PrEP are among the most important results we’ve seen to date of any HIV prevention option. Adding this additional HIV prevention options means more people may find an option that is right for them. Beyond expanded choice, a twice-yearly injection has the potential to transform the way we deliver HIV prevention to people who need and want it most – from an easier to follow regimen for individuals to a decreased burden on healthcare systems that are stretched to the limit.”
November 20, 2024 — Forbes

Inconvenient Question: Science Is Gifting Us New HIV Prevention Tools but Is It Expanding Choices for the People?
Any new HIV prevention method is not meant to sit on the shelf but to be used by the people who need it to protect themselves from HIV. We have to ensure that new HIV prevention technologies that are coming out of the scientific research pipelines, are accessible to people everywhere – especially those who are more at risk of HIV acquisition. Jim Pickett has passionately called for translating scientific gains into public health outcomes – not with delay, but with equity and justice.
November 14, 2024 — CNS

In The Spotlight | Where are we in the search for an HIV cure?
As Jessica Salzwedel, the senior programme manager for research engagement at New York-based NGO AVAC, said, a potential HIV vaccine might be therapeutic and not necessarily preventative. A therapeutic vaccine is given to someone who is already living with HIV in the hope that the vaccine will prime their immune system to fight HIV or potentially clear it better.
November 11, 2024 — news24

Are We on the Path to End AIDS by 2030?
“We have to fill the product introduction gap – accelerate time to regulatory approvals of product introduction to impact; demand creation and programme platforms for prevention; and differentiated and integrated service delivery for people. We must also fill the product development gap – long acting and event driven; user-friendly and developed with users; dual purpose and multi-purpose methods must be our top priority,” says Mitchell Warren, Executive Director of AVAC.
October 28, 2024 — The Pioneer

Talks Have Started To Get the Twice-Yearly Anti-HIV Jab Registered in SA
Cheaper, generic versions of the jab, which contains the antiretroviral drug, lenacapavir, will be sold to 120 countries with high HIV rates, of which South Africa is one. The generic shots are likely to become available in 2027, according to Mitchell Warren, the executive director of the New York-based advocacy organisation, AVAC.
October 21, 2024 — Bhekisisa

Success of Long-Lasting HIV Drug Hinges on Pricing
“We’re calling for an aggressive effort to make lenacapavir available to at least one million people in low- and middle-income countries within the first year of its rollout.” Mitchell Warren, executive director, AVAC
October 21, 2024 — SciDevNet

Argentinian Advocate Gastón Devisich Wins 2024 Omololu Falobi Award at HIVR4P Conference in Lima
Argentinian HIV advocate Gastón Devisich has been awarded the 2024 Omololu Falobi Award for Excellence in HIV Prevention Research Community Advocacy. Devisich, who serves as Community Engagement Coordinator at Fundación Huésped, received the honor on October 9 during the HIV Research for Prevention (HIVR4P) Conference in Lima, Peru. This marks the first time the prestigious award has been given to a recipient from Latin America, recognizing Devisich’s significant contributions to HIV prevention efforts and his advocacy for marginalized communities in the region.
October 11, 2024 — HeapNews

Access Questions Hang Over Gilead’s HIV Shot
“For all of the wonders of product development, PrEP has not even begun to have the impact we need it to,” said Mitchell Warren, executive director of international HIV prevention nonprofit AVAC.
October 8, 2024 — Axios

Gilead Agrees to Allow Generic Version of Groundbreaking HIV Shot in Poor Countries
Mitchell Warren, executive director of the HIV prevention organization AVAC, said the exclusion of Brazil, Peru, Mexico and Argentina from the generics deal was shocking since the clinical trials that proved the drug worked were conducted in those countries. Gilead said it would provide the people who participated in the trial with lenacapavir “until it is available in their countries.” “Eight thousand people in a dozen countries participated in those two trials, but they didn’t do it alone, they did it with their communities,” Mr. Warren said. “Those trial sites were chosen because that’s where epidemics were the most serious.”
October 2, 2024 — New York Times

Meta-analysis of Pregnancy Events in Biomedical HIV Prevention Trials in Sub-Saharan Africa: Implications for Gender Transformative Trials
Historically, pregnant and lactating populations (PLP) have been excluded or disenrolled from biomedical HIV prevention trials, despite being more likely to acquire HIV during pregnancy and the post-partum period. We conducted a meta-analysis of pregnancy events in biomedical HIV prevention trials in sub-Saharan Africa to support trialists moving toward more inclusive clinical and implementation studies.
August 17, 2024 — AIDS and Behavior

The Long Wait for Long-Acting HIV Prevention and Treatment Formulations
Large randomised studies of new long-acting medications for the prevention and treatment of HIV have shown high effectiveness and acceptability. Although modelling studies indicate these agents could be fundamental in HIV elimination, coordination of their entry into health-care markets is crucial, especially in low-income and middle-income countries with high HIV prevalence, where coordination is low despite UNAIDS flagging that global HIV targets will not be met.
August 16, 2024 — The Lancet HIV

A Love Letter to Sexually Transmitted Diseases
“Every morning, I wake up a Black woman in America, and at least once a day, I have to ask myself, “am I safe?” I ask this question as I prepare for meetings, walk my dog, and sleep because the deaths of Dr. Antoinette Candia-Bailey, George Floyd, and Breonna Taylor are ever present in my mind and heart. These deaths remind me that my physical safety is not always guaranteed, which shapes how I navigate challenges and pursue opportunities in my career to contribute to the field of sexually transmitted infections (STIs).” – Alison Footman
August 16, 2024 — Sexually Transmitted Diseases

Harnessing Private Sector Strategies for Family Planning To Deliver the Dual Prevention Pill, the First Multipurpose Prevention Technology With Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis, in an Expanding HIV Prevention Landscape
The Dual Prevention Pill (DPP) combines oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) with oral contraception (OC) to prevent HIV and pregnancy. Noting the significant role played by the private sector in delivering family planning (FP) services in countries with high HIV burden, high level of private sector OC uptake, and the recent growth in self-care and technology-based private sector channels, we undertook qualitative research in Kenya, South Africa and Zimbabwe to prioritize private sector service delivery approaches for the introduction of the DPP.
August 15, 2024 — JIAS

CDC Finally Puts $7 Million Toward Pilots for Free, Easy PrEP Access
“We’re hoping that we could work with those jurisdictions to provide the technical assistance” to get the pilots up fast, John Meade, M.P.H., senior program manager for policy at AVAC, explained in a call with TheBody. Meade is also a co-founding member of PrEP in Black America. He said that he and other advocates see the CDC pilot funding as a chance to quickly stand up programs that could chart the path for a permanent, national PrEP plan. “It’s meant to be a snapshot to give four jurisdictions the extra bump needed to get a program started.”
August 15, 2024 — TheBody

Lenacapavir: What it would it take to get the 6-monthly anti-HIV jab to SA
But translating trial results into something that works in real life in countries like South Africa is often considerably harder than developing the actual medicine, says Mitchell Warren, who heads up the New York-based advocacy organisation AVAC. “It’s going to take policymakers, funders and communities getting together to decide we want to get to zero in real life.”
July 31, 2024 — Bhekisisa

There’s More Data for Trans People With HIV Than Any Other Disease — but It’s Still Flawed
In a separate study, Minalga looked at 41 milestone HIV clinical trials between 1991 and 2023. They found that out of more than 170,000 total participants, less than 1% were identified as part of the trans community, and 94% of those were trans women.
July 30, 2024 — STAT

AIDS 2024: Exciting Developments With the Jabs Promising To Revolutionise HIV Prevention
“We think that they may have data to go to the regulators by the middle of next year…and hopefully they would get approval from any number of regulators and then hopefully at the same time WHO recommendations [will come out], so that could all happen in 2025,” Warren said. “Ministries of Health, PEPFAR [President’s Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief], and Global Fund could begin to procure this product by late next year. So, you could see its introduction late 2025, early 2026,” he speculated.
July 29, 2024 — Spotlight

SA Wants To Buy the 2-Monthly Anti-HIV Jab — 18 Days After a US Donation Deal
“Injectable HIV prevention medicine provides a terrific option that is less dependent on a user taking a pill every day, and the less often you need to go to a provider for the injection, the less burden on the health system,” says Mitchell Warren from the New York-based advocacy organisation, AVAC.
July 29, 2024 — Bhekisisa

Despite Gilead’s Promising HIV Prevention Drug, A Vaccine Is Still The ‘Holy Grail’
Forbes reports on the promise of lenacapvir for HIV prevention, quoting Mitchell Warren: “It is gobsmackingly exciting to see zero in a clinical trial,” but notes, “While there have been amazing advances with PrEP options, people need to continue taking the medication as long as they remain at-risk, which could be an entire lifetime. The obvious solution would be a much cheaper vaccine that could provide years of protection, but it’s a research puzzle that has eluded top scientists in government, academia and industry for more than two decades.”
July 23, 2024 — Forbes

We Have More Infection-Prevention Options Now but Are They Actual Choices for the People?
“We have to fill the product introduction gap – accelerate time to regulatory approvals of product introduction to impact; demand creation and programme platforms for prevention; and differentiated and integrated service delivery for people. We must also fill the product development gap – long acting and event driven; user-friendly and developed with users; dual purpose and multi-purpose methods must be our top priority,” said Mitchell Warren, Executive Director of AVAC. Mitchell was speaking at AIDS 2024 Affiliated Independent Event on TB and HIV organised recently in lead up to 25th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2024).
July 19, 2024 — CNS

Zero-Infection HIV Drug ‘Must Be Affordable’
Bridget Ndagaano Jjuuko, activist and director of ACTS101-Uganda, urged major donors like PEPFAR and the Global Fund to make large-scale purchases of lenacapavir, which would significantly drive down the drug’s market price. “We want to see affordable lenacapavir in the hands of those that need it in the shortest time possible,” said Jjuuko. “We need commitments from donors like the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and the Global Fund that purchases large quantities of drugs to lower the prices of lenacapavir as it hits the market,” Jjuuko added.
July 15, 2024 — SciDev.Net

Devex Newswire: The US Global AIDS Initiative is Dealt a Painful Blow
“PEPFAR continues to be the greatest driver of public health impact — not just in the AIDS response but across global health,” Mitchell Warren, executive director of the HIV prevention nonprofit AVAC, wrote to Devex.
July 4, 2024 — Devex

Gilead Urged to Prioritise Access as Injection Trial Proves 100% Successful in Preventing HIV
“This is one of the most important results we’ve seen to date in an HIV prevention study,” said Mitchell Warren, executive director of AVAC, a non-profit HIV prevention advocacy organisation. “Adding additional HIV prevention options means more people may find an option that is right for them. Beyond expanded choice, a twice-yearly injection has the potential to transform the way we deliver HIV prevention to people who need and want it most – from an easier-to-follow regimen for individuals to a decreased burden on healthcare systems that are stretched to the limit.”
June 24, 2024 — Health Policy Watch

Can We End Epidemics?
To deliver the choice in quality care that people deserve, expanding the pipeline of options required to diagnose, test, prevent, treat, and eventually cure HIV and end the AIDS epidemic is critical. Host Henry Bonsu is joined by AVAC’s Executive Director Mitchell Warren and Dr. Kimberly Smith, Senior VP and Head of Research and Development ViiV Healthcare to discuss advances in HIV and infectious disease science including for sexual and reproductive health more broadly, we learn more about what promises the future might offer and what are some of the pitfalls we need to overcome?
June 21, 2024 — Foreign Policy

Lenacapavir Jab 100% Effective in Preventing HIV Infection Among Ugandan, South African Women
“Beyond expanded choice, a twice-yearly injection has the potential to transform the way we deliver HIV prevention to people who need and want it most – from an easier-to-follow regimen for individuals to a decreased burden on healthcare systems that are stretched to the limit”, Mitchell Warren, AVAC’s executive director. “We are incredibly excited about this result, especially about what it can mean for women in Africa,” says Nandisile Sikwana, regional stakeholder engagement manager for AVAC, and a member of the PURPOSE 1 Global Community Advisory Group.
June 20, 2024 — The Observer

HIV Prevention Drug Uptake Is Slow. Can Offering Choices Change That?
“This is one of the most important results we’ve seen to date in an HIV prevention study,” Mitchell Warren, AVAC’s executive director, wrote in a press release.
June 20, 2024 — Devex

Yale LGBTQ Center Director joins Academy for a Cure Faculty in Kigali, Rwanda
The Yale LGBTQ Center is proud to announce that Samuel Neil Byrd, our Director and inaugural Stonewall Librarian at Yale University, recently joined the faculty of the 2024 Academy for a Cure in Kigali, Rwanda sponsored by the International AIDS Society (IAS) and AVAC. This prestigious event which took place from June 8-10, brought together experts, advocates, and researchers from around the world to explore innovative strategies and solutions related to HIV cure research.
June 17, 2024 — Yale LGBTQ Center

#InTheSpotlight | HIV Prevention Injections Exist, but Hardly Anyone Can Get Them
“PEPFAR has procured around 300 000 vials of CAB-LA from ViiV for use in select low- and middle-income countries through 2025”, Mitchell Warren, CEO of New York-based NGO AVAC, tells Spotlight. “PEPFAR will focus its rollout in select African countries, which may include South Africa.”
June 11, 2024 — Spotlight

Long-Acting Drugs May Revolutionize HIV Prevention and Treatment
New regimens in development, including once-weekly pills and semiannual shots, could help control the virus in hard-to-reach populations.
April 17, 2024 — New York Times

AVAC Executive Director, Mitchell Warren Interview with Pharma Boardroom: “We now have the scientific tools to end the HIV epidemic; the challenge lies in delivery”
In an exclusive PharmaBoardroom interview, AVAC Executive Director Mitchell Warren looks back on the terrific advances that HIV science has made – transforming the disease from a death sentence to a manageable chronic illness – and why urgent, widespread, and equitable delivery of the solutions it has brought is crucial.
April 11, 2024 — Pharma Boardroom

Long-lasting, Injectable HIV Prevention Drug Set for “Aggressive” Roll-out in Africa
“Over the next 2 years, we will see more injectable PrEP use in East and Southern Africa than we’ll see in the US,” predicts Mitchell Warren, who heads AVAC, an advocacy group for HIV prevention. “That’s turning history on its head.”
March 25, 2024 — Science

30 Leaders Look to the Future of HIV
POZ marks 30 years of service and reflects on what’s next. To that end, POZ spoke to 30 leaders in the HIV community, asking each a question about an aspect of the ongoing AIDS pandemic that they know best.
March 25, 2024 — POZ

Stigma, Lack of Awareness Holding Back Use of HIV Prevention Pills, Experts Say
Over the last four years South Africa has taken large strides in making HIV prevention pills available at public sector clinics, but uptake has not been as good as some may have hoped. Thabo Molelekwa asks several experts why this might be. March 25, 2024 — Spotlight

‘62.2% of Uganda’s Young Population is Circumcised’
The Uganda AIDS Commission said that Uganda is on the right track toward their 2025 HIV prevention targets.
March 25, 2024 – New Vision

Transformative Innovation in HIV/AIDS Research and Outreach
A cure for HIV/AIDS won’t be of much use unless the community is educated and engaged. Jessica Salzwedel, senior program manager for research engagement at the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition (AVAC), spoke about best practices for engagement, especially in Black communities. “Engagement needs to be meaningful and inclusive, with how we craft messages for Black Americans needing to change,” Salzwedel said. “We need to give more than just medical information out to the public and meet their multiple needs by breaking down silos and bridging gaps.”
March 15, 2024 – University of Miami: Miller School of Medicine

Huge Increase in PrEP Uptake When Services Offer Choice, Flexibility and Injectable PrEP, African Study Shows
Mitchell Warren of AVAC said that he and many other advocates and researchers had always argued for choice, but hadn’t had the evidence that it really made a difference in HIV specifically. “This is the evidence we’ve all been waiting for,” he told aidsmap. “This is the first time in a community setting that we have scientific evidence that choice matters and choice works.”
March 8, 2024 – aidsmap

Long-Lasting HIV Jab Marks ‘New Era for Prevention’ in Africa
“This is one of the first times in global health that we have seen almost simultaneous introduction in Eastern and Southern Africa, or any low and middle-income country, at the same time as weather nations,” said Mitchell Warren, Executive Director of AVAC, an international organisation working on HIV prevention.
February 22, 2024 – The Telegraph

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